*NYIF Youth Investment Fund:* _No N75 Billion Naira released – Ministry_

_*…debunks false allegations*_

The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has had its attention drawn to a mischievous and misleading report by some media organizations on an alleged miasaapropriation of N75billion Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF).

The publication of a mere press release deriving from a frivolous petition that contained fallacious claims and unfounded allegations by these publications is itself appalling and questionable. A simple check or getting the Ministry’s side would have provided factual information as against the gross misinformation displayed. Further routine checks would have alerted editors of these credible platforms to the wily schemes of some discredited journeymen.

For the records, approval for NYIF was for N25 billion annually for 3 years, amounting to N75 billion. 2021 is the first year and less than N3 billion has been released.

Under this first phase disbursed by the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, 5,285 beneficiaries got soft loans with a total value of N1,661,370,000.00. The amount represents 55.38% of the N3 billion provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the first phase.

The total number of undisbursed and unqualified applicants for the phase stood at 769 valued at N599,485,000.00. Of this numbers, 322 are yet to accept the loan offer, 26 failed NUBAN 149 failed payment, one (1) applicant rejected the loan offer and 587 are yet to apply for the loan via the NMFB loan application portal.

Names of beneficiaries have been published on the Ministry’s website and also the newspapers.

The Ministry had transparently declared that some applicants were not qualified for loan disbursement because they did not provide valid or correct contact details for communication on further steps in their application; applicant has existing AGSMEIS or COVID-19 Loan and that an applicant is older than 35 years old, which puts them beyond the age bracket for youth.

Other reasons are that the applicant has a poor credit rating or currently has a non-performing loan, applicant failed to provide a valid BVN and provided incomplete or incorrect BVN. This information is in the public domain.

Beneficiaries and applicants have been consistently reminded that the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) disburses repayable loans to the youth and not grants.